Piston ring tool



Oct. 17, 1933. L SUNNEN 1,930,667

y PIsToN RING TooL Filed sept. 1, 1932 2 .sheets-sheet 1 /0 #56V 2.5 w24 v Oct. 17, 1933. 1 SUNNEN 1,930,667

PI STON RING TOOL Filed Sept. 1. 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 /A/ VEN TOR: Jeje/w SUA/Nav.

3)/ W @HM l wrom/n HIL Patentes oei. 17, 1933 1,939,657,

Unirsnieit PATENT DFlPiCEI 1,930,667 PIsroN RING Toor.

Joseph Sunnen, Kirkwood, Mo. Appleman september 1, 1932. seria1No.631,325

' 'is claims. (o1. 35i-86.4)

My invention has relation to improvements in detail taken on the line 5 5 ofrFig. 4; Fig. 6 is a automobile mechanics tools and isrparticularly iront elevation of my improved'tool shown applied directed to a tool for removing and applying to a piston; Fig. 7 is a'diagrarnrnatic View show-' piston rings from and to engine pistons, and it ing the positions of the slots whereby adjustment 5 consists in the novel features oi construction or `the coniining elements is effected; and Fig. 8' 60 more fully set forth in the specification and is a diagrammatic View showing the .relative posi'- pointed out in the claims. tions of one pair of gauge elementsandthei Tools for the handling of piston rings whereby cooperating conning elements. i their application to and 'removal from pistons Referring to the drawings, B represents what I 10 maybe facilitated have heretofore been used, but choose to call the base member ofthe tool, the 65 such toois are eith :limited for use ona single same comprising disks l and 1 maintained in size of piston ring or ii applicable to rings of difspaced relation by a rivet 2 and sleeve 3 dis ferent sizes have no means for limiting the exposed thereon and spacedrivets e, Land grooved Vcessive spreading and resultant distortion or sleeves 5, 5 placed on the rivets 4, 4.: A stud ireaking of the ring. 6, polygonal in cross-section, projects `upwardly' 70 It is the object or" the present invention to prothe base member B, said stud traversing vide a piston ring tool embodying meansior con- '.iembers land 1' and having a sleeve '7 mounted." ning the ring as it is expanded to clear the ring on it between disks l and 1. A pair of leversv lands of the piston, said tool at the saine time 8, 8 are disposed between disks 1, l on opposite 2o being adjustable so that it may be applicable to sides of a longitudinal center line a, .passing 75' all the common sizes oi pistonringsin general use through the rivet 2 and stud 6 (Fig. 5) said levers' in allCmQbG GDQIIGS, Ilalley l'Om 2%. to 4" having perforated lugs 9, 9 disposed in overlapping in diameter. f v relation and mounted for rotation on the sleeve A further object ci the invention is to provide 7. The levers 8, 8 are thus pivotally mounted the ring tool with a gauge which may be set to on the base member B and the long arm of each 80 the diameter of the piston being operated on s0 is shaped to `comprise a handle I-I, while the that the Conllng Glemnts will be Spe-Ced the short arinof each lever S'has a downwardly explorer distan-2e to permit the rines of the piston tending finger lo provided with a renewable memto be confined to a degree Of eXDalSiOn Sufficient ber l1 for engaging the end of the piston ringv to enable them to be removed from said piston. E, (Figs, i and 2),` The hame pari; of eaehsi It iS alSO an Objet Gf the iUl'ESSYl illVeIllSOl' t0 iever 8 is channel shaped in cross-section and a provide a ring tool having a pairoi levers engag- U-shaped .spring l2 is lodged in said channel ing the ring ends operabiaon account of sirnwith one side l2 of the spring lying lin the groove DliCty, O11 'the @Td' 0f a pail' Of pers. A furof the grooved sleeve 5, and the other side 12a ther object oi invention is to embody in the or the spring terminating in the' outwardly bent '90 ring tool means for tieten mins the adjustment extremity 12". The springs 1212 of tnehandies 0f the tGOl Ol SZS Tlg With SmiiCy 11d H, maintain said handles in balanced-position certainty so that possibilities of error are pracwith respect to the bare member B` withvtlieirl I b CSHY emed- The i001 E150 haSl'D-e ad? ends carrying the ngers l0, locoming together- 40 Ventas@ that the llgS-ly b9 YGIHOVQ' lOm Ol on the center line a under the uniform tension! 95 positioned. in any of the grooves Ofthe piston er springs 12, 12. obviously, whentne had. with equal facility. Further and other advanles E, H are gl-agped inthe hand of the Opertages will be better apparent from adetailed Cleator and` pressed Vtogetlfier for the purpose Jof scription or" the invention in connection with the Spyeading @he finge-fs 10, 10 both m levers twill' SCOmlUa/lg CWP-s, in YWh be uniformly actuated with relation to the -base 100A Figure l is a side elevation of iny improved tool menthe-f3, t beinfy applied to the 1i s in the lower groove of a It is quite obvious that the parte thasY far de- FSOH? Fie- 2 iS a bGtm ail O my improved scribed comprise an operative device whereby aV tool shown in engagement with a piston fills? piston ring maybe expanded if the ends thereof4 Fg- 3 iS 2 t0? plan Of'my imilOV/d tool ShowingV are engaged by tips 1l, ll of ngeis l0, `10` and 105" two'adjustments of the conning element frame,V thehandks I-I, H pressed together. lI-Ioweifer,` the diameter oi the pistons requiring such adjustsuch a device has no rneans'of preventing eXces-. ments being indicated by the dotted circles; Fig. sive stresses on 'thefpart of the ring opposite 4 is a vertical longitudinal section taken on the to ti e Y gapV permitting the ring to be unduly line 4 4 of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional strained and distorted, and occasionally breaking u@ it. In order to prevent excessive stresses on the ring at points that will result in distortion and breaking of the ring, I have provided means for confining the ring at diametrically opposed points While it is being expanded, and thus distribute the expansion uniformly around the ring so it will enlarge circularly. A minimum expansion of the ring will thus peimit it to clear the circular ring lands of the piston and easily be removed.

This confining means comprises a frame F embodying two nested members 13 and 14 extending transversely of the levers 8, 8 and mounted on the base member B. In the present instance, the members 13 and 14 are channelshaped, and the sides l5, 15 of member 13 are immediately above the base member B. The sides 16, 16 of member 14 fit snugly over the sides of member 13 so the members 13 and 14 are held in assembled relation by the overlapping sides although they are capable oi extension laterally for adjustment to different sizes of pistons. This adjustment is accomplished by slotted connection of the members 13 and 14 lwith stud 6. In the top plate 17 of member 13 is an inclined slot 18 and in top plate 19 of member 14 is a slot 20 inclined oppositely to slot 18. Thus slots 18 and 20 intersect and the stud 6 passes through both of them.

As explained above, the stud 6 is polygonal in cross-section having four sides, two of which are engaged by the sides of slot 13 and two of which are angaged by the sides of slot 20, so that the assembled members 13 and 14 cannot rotate on the stud 6. The non-rotatable relation of the frame F is preserved with relation to the base member B, because the stud 5 is non-rotatably fixed in the base member, and since the levers 8, 8 are maintained in'balanced relation with 4rrespect to the base member B the definite transverse relationship between the levers 8, 3 and frame F is also maintained. The maintaining of this relationship between this frame F and levers 8, 9 is important because the frame F carlries the coniining elements fc-r the ring R durin the expansion thereof. These confining elements are formed by the inner edges 21, 21 of arms 22, 22 extending downwardly in spaced relation from the end of each of the members 13 and 14. The arms 22, 22 are slightly wider from the sides of members 13 and 14 downwardly to the shoulders s, s, for the purpose of providing gauge elements 23, 23 whereby the members 13 and 14 may be set to the correct spacing for any size pistonV rings operated on. .It will be observed by referring to Figs. 1, 2 and .6 that the parts of the arms 22, 22 having the gauge elements 23, 23Yare more widely spaced than the lower parts of the arms which provide the confining elements 21, 21. The reason for this will be apparent hereinafter'.

For the purpose of rigidity, the arms 22, 22 of y each pair are connected by screws 24 and spacers 25, as shown (Figs. V1 and 6).- The frame members 13 and 14 are held immovably on the stud 6V by means of a wing nut 25 which traverses the threaded reduced end 27 ci stud 6, there being a washer 28 disposed over the stud 6 between the outer member 14 and the wing nut. A sleeve 29 is loosely disposed over the stud'G between the inner member 13 and thebase member B, yand supports the frame F on said base member.

`The operation of my improved piston ring tool maybe described as follows:

We will assume that rings R are'to be'placed on the piston P, as shown in Fig. 1. The rst operation is to adjust the frame F so that the confining members 21, 21 will be diametrically spaced the correct amount for this ring. This is done by loosening the wing nut 26 so that the members 13`and 14 may be extended or contracted laterally so that on resting the base member B on top of the piston the arms 22, 22 will extend downwardly alongside the piston wall. The operator then slides the members 13 and 14 t0- gether until the edges 23, 23 comprising the gauge elements contact with the cylindrical surface of the piston, after which the wing nut 26 is tightened to maintain the arms 22, 22 securely in this particular spaced relation. By referring to Fig. 2 it will be observed that the confining elements 21, 21 extend diametrically beyond the gauge elements 23, 23. But this must needs be, since the position of the gauge elements is fixed with respect to the piston surface, and the position of the confining elements must be fixed with respect to the inner margin of the piston ring which must be expanded suiliciently to pass over the piston surface, or ring lands. Since the conning elements 21, 21 can only operate against the outer margin of the ring, obviously, they must extend diametrically sufficiently beyond the gauge elements to compensate for the ring thickness. When we remember that the thickness of the rings is proportional to the size of the ring and that the present piston ring tool is adapted for all sizes of rings in common use, the position of the confining elements if correct for a large size ring will not be correct for a small size ring unless some means of compensation is found for the error introduced by the variation in ring thicknesses. I have =solved this difficulty in the manner illustrated in the diagram shown in Fig. 8 by spacing the confining elements 21, 21 on each side of the ring closer than the spacing of the gauge elements 23, 23. I have obtained the correct location for the confining elements 21, 21 by locating the points of intersection of the outer surfaces of minimum and maximum sized pistonV rings, for which the tool is'designed, while the guide elements 23, 23 are in contact with circles corresponding in diameter with the diameter of the pistons on which these rings are to be used. The diagram (Fig. 3) shows clearly that by locating the confining elements 21, 21 in this manner they are separated the correct distance diametrically for confining against undue expansion any'size of piston ring after the tool has been adjusted, as heretofore explained, to the piston receiving the particular ring to be handled.

- After the tool has been adjusted, as above described, the opeiator causes the tips 11, 11 of fingers 10, 10 to engage the ends of the ring R and presses the handle levers together (as shown in full in Fig. 2) until the ring is securely held between the coniining elements 21, 21. By referring to Fig. 2 it will be seen that the wider the ring gap is opened the morethe ends of the ring will be forced toward the confining edges until the ring has been expanded sufiiciently to be passed over the piston and inserted in the ring groove, as .shown in Fig. 1. In removing rings from the piston the operation just described isA Instead of expanding the ring to pass i reversed. the same over the piston it is' expanded so that it may be removed therefrom. Y

By referring to the diagram, shown'in Fig. 7, it will be observed that the inclination Aof the slots '18 and 20, by means of which the frame F isadjusted, is not '45 degreesasxnigltbe'expected, in vievv'o'f the'factthateach arm 22,` 22should move outwardly or inwardly from vthe-'center of the base member B in an amount equal vto the relative movement of-V the fingers 10,10l from'this center. The diagramshoivsiclearlyfthat the departure from the '15 degree inclinationis neces# sary because the -ngers 10,'10fmovethe distance 2J along .theglon'gitudinal centerline-'d of the toolivhilethe coniiningedges 21, 21 move the distance a: on each side of the transverse center line b. Therefore, the edges 21, 21. for each adjustment have to be moved a greater distance than the iingers 10, 10. I have found that for the positions of the edges 21, 21 the inclination of the slots 18 and 20 should be 42 degrees with the transverse center line b and 48 degrees with the longitudinal center line a. Of course, the inclination of the slots 18 and 2G Would change With a change in the positions of the confining edges 21, 21.

From the foregoing it is apparent that I have provided a tool for expanding piston rings that is easily and quickly adjusted for operation on any 25` size i'ing in common use, and that is equally effective and operates with equal precision on a ring of any size. In the hands of an experienced operator the chances of breaking a ring While expanding the same are negligible.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A piston ring tool comprising a base member, a pair of levers pivotally connected to said base member, said levers having handles at one side of their pivotal points and means for en` f gaging the ring ends at the opposite side of said pivotal points, and ring confining elements supported by the base member, said elements being disposed in opposition so that a center line through the elements is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the levers, and between the handles and ring engaging means.

2. A piston ring tool comprising a base member, a pair of levers pivotally connected to said base Vmember, said levers having handles at one side -of their pivotal points and means for engaging elements is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the levers, said ring confining elements being interconnected so as to be jointly movable for varying the spacing thereof.

3. A piston ring tool comprising a base member, a pair of levers pivotally connected to said base member, said levers having handles at one side of their pivotal points and means for engaging the ring ends at the opposite side of said pivotal points, a stem projecting from said base member, a pair of interconnected plates carried by the base member, said plates having oppositely inclined slots traversed by said stem for adjust-v ing said plates in unison, and posts projecting from the ends of said plates.

4. A piston ring tool comprising a base member, a pair of levers pivotally connected to said base member, said levers having handles at one side of their pivotal points and means for engaging the ring ends at the opposite side of said pivotal points, an adjustable frame carried by the base member, ring coniining elements on said frame, and gauge elements on the frame for adjusting the same to eiect a spacing of the con- Ining elements according to the piston diameter.

5. A piston ring tool comprising a base member,japair of leversfjorengaging the ringl ends, said leversv being pivotallyconnected lto *said base member, a frame carried by said basemember, said Vframelraving elementsfadapt'ed to coniine they ring lwhen" the-ends thereof areseparated by thelevers, and'means for' adjusti-ngthe frame laterally and lo'ngitudinally'with` respectto theV levers to vary'the positions ofthe confining ele'- ments according to the 'diameter ofthe ring. 'l

6. A piston ring tool comprising a base 'meme ber, a pair of levers for engaging the ring ends, said'levers being pivotally connected to said base member, a frame carried by said base member, said frame having diametrically opposed ele# ments for gauging the diameter of the piston and diametrically opposed elements for confining the ring when the ends thereof are separated by the levers, the diametrical spacing of confining elements being greater than the diametrical spacing of gauge elements. 7. A piston ring tool comprising a base member, a pair of levers for engaging the ring ends, said levers being pivotallyconnected to said base member, a frame carried by said base` member, said frame having diametrically opposed elements for gauging the diameter of the piston and diametrically opposed elements for confining the ringv when the ends thereof are separated by the levers, the location of coniining elements being approximately on the outer surfaceof any given size ring Within the range of the tool when the gauge is set to the diameter of the piston adapted to Vreceive the ring of such size.

. 8. A piston ring tool comprising a base mem- Y ber, a pair of Vlevers pivotally connected to said' base member, said levers having handles at one side of their pivotal points and means for en-Jy gaging the ring ends at the opposite side Aof said pivotal points, a stem projecting from said base member, a pair of interconnected-plates carried by the base member, said plates having oppositely inclined slots traversed by said stem for adjusting said plates in unison, and spaced arms depending from the outer end of each plate, the lower part of each of said arms being offset from the part adjacent to the plate carrying the arm. Y

9. A piston ring tool comprising a base member, a pair of levers pivotally connected to said base member, said levers having handles at one side of their pivotal points and means for engaging the ring ends at the opposite sideV of said pivotal points, a polygonal stem projecting from said base member, a pair of interconnected plates carried by the base member, said plates having oppositely inclined slots traversed by said polygonal stem for adjusting said plates in unison, and posts projecting from the end of said plates.

10. A piston ring tool comprising a base member, a pair of levers pivotally connected to said base member, said' levers having handles at one side of their pivotal points and'means for engaging the ring ends at the opposite side of said pivotal points, a stem projecting from said base member, a pair of interconnected plates carried by the base member, said plates having slots tra-v lio spacingrof said conningV elements, and. means for expanding the lpiston ring intocontact with the. confining elements. Y Y. i

12. A piston ring tool comm-ising` a base membei-,a suitable `frame carried by and extending across said base member, posts projecting from the ends of said Vframe, means -for jointly moving said posts to varythe spacing thereof, and

means for expanding the. ring into contact with the posts. 

